


Queen's Gamble

by Kaetien SaDiablo (Shadowcat)



Category: Black Jewels - Anne Bishop
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-01-01
Updated: 2011-01-01
Packaged: 2017-10-14 07:04:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,065
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/146672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadowcat/pseuds/Kaetien%20SaDiablo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Better hurt feelings and guilt for a short period of time than dead forever."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Queen's Gamble

**Author's Note:**

> I've always wanted to write the missing scenes from "Invisible Ring" where Thera told Lia what she had seen in her tangled web and how they decided on Queen's Gamble to outwit their enemies. I did the first part in _What The Tangled Webs Reveal_.

"This is going to shock them," she said quietly, looking down into the brew that her friend had made her to ease some of the soreness from the evening before. "It's going to hurt _him_. He'll blame himself for me appearing to not get my darker jewels."

"Better hurt feelings and guilt for a short period of time than dead forever," Thera responded as she continued working on the new web she was weaving. "Better a little bit of temporary guilt than a whole lot of bleeding."

"I know," Lia said softly. "I just don't like hurting him or making him get the look in his eyes. Especially after..."

Thera turned to her. "Especially after last night?"

"Yes, especially after last night."

"After this is over, he'll yell and he'll curse and he'll probably fuss for a very long time, but he will forgive you."

"I hope so. I really do. Letting him think that he's responsible..."

"If there was any other way for this to work and for us to get everyone out of here alive, we'd do it. There's no other way, Lady."

 _Lady_. Not _Lia_. A subtle, but formal reminder of how important this whole thing was. A formal reminder of her responsibilities as a Queen and not just her feelings for one man.

"Tell me again how this is going to work. How are we going to fool everyone around us -- including Talon, Blaed and Jared?" She didn't need their plan outlined again. She had helped come up with it, after all. What she needed to know was how they were going to make the three men closest to them believe what they were supposed to be seeing. "Talon has known me since I was a baby. He won't be easily taken in by sight."

Thera nodded. "I know. However, I think if I weave the right strength of web, I can link the two of us together and with the illusion spells we both know, we can do this. All we have to do is make them believe that I'm use and you are me."

"Oh is that all," Lia said dryly, but with a touch of humor. "Fool our lovers and the man who helped raise me. "

Thera noticed how Lia referred to Jared as her lover, but she wisely decided not to draw her attention to that right now. "They'll want to fuss over us for weeks after this."

"If this works, they will have earned that right," Lia said as she took another sip of the healing brew.

"It will work." Thera said, making some finishing touches and then coming to sit next to her. "It will. We'll get everyone safe to Dena Nehele, Lia. I promise."

"I wish this wasn't something that needed to be done," Lia said sadly. "Everyone has already been through so much death and blood and the land has been deeply wounded."

Thera reached out to take her hand. "Don't even think it, Lia. There is nothing that you can do to stop people having to fight to keep their freedom and their way of life. All you can do is protect your people and be a good Queen that they will be happy to willingly serve."

"I could --"

"No you could not," Thera snapped. "Don't be an idiot. Surrendering yourself to Dorothea wouldn't help any of these people and it would leave your own territory without a strong Queen after your Grandmother is gone. You will _not_ sacrifice yourself needlessly, Lia. There are so few good Queens left and you would be destroying so much if you gave up."

"I never give up, Thera," Lia said, looking down into her cup. "But these people, this is not their war. It's not fair that this has come down on them."

"But you're not the one who caused this. That bitch priestess would have sent her armies here anyway because they resisted her rule and the things she wanted them to do. I've seen a lot, and the look I've seen a new look in these people's eyes since Jared brought you here. I see hope, Lia. I see hope where there was only sadness and despair when the rest of us first arrived." She smiled softly. "The moment they saw you and saw the kind of Queen you are, you gave them hope to go along with their pride."

"I don't want to fail them. I can't stand the idea that they have put so much faith in me and I'll let them down."

"You won't. You're standing up for them and you're taking them all out of this place of death to start again where they'll be safe. Even if we were to all die tomorrow -- which we will not -- you won't have failed them." She touched Lia's chin to made her look at her. "Whatever happens, Lady, I'm glad to have met you, proud to have served you and blessed to call you my friend."

"Don't talk like that," Lia said with a little more strength in her voice. "It sounds like goodbye and it's not. I'm not going to let anything happen to you, Thera. You're my best friend, my Sister."

"Then stop worrying about how you feel guilty over something beyond your control so we can get all of us out of here," she said with her usual tartness.

Lia managed a slight smile and then nodded, getting to her feet. "We should probably do this then. The quicker we start, the sooner we can prepare for the Hayllian's attack."

"May the Darkness embrace you, Lady Araballa Ardelia," Thera said softly as she went to sit down in a corner of the Sanctuary. She wasn't going to leave Lia alone, but she wasn't going to make any noises or distractions, either. She remembered her Offering. She had been grateful that the Black Widow had stayed with her, but when her descent started, she hadn't been aware of anything but the Offering and the trial she was facing.

 *******

"Mother Night," Lia finally whispered, bringing Thera back to awareness of the Sanctuary. "Mother Night."

Thera was there to catch her friend as her knees buckled from the exertion and gently sat her down. She smiled grimly at the gray jewel Lia was clutching tightly in her hands. "It's done. It's finished."

"No." Lia shook her head. "It's just the beginning."


End file.
